Beauty and the Beast at The Fox Theatre

Critics have raved about the show throughout its history, from its 1994 Broadway premiere to the recent smash U.K. and Australian productions: “A delight! The astonishments rarely cease,” declared The New York Times in reviewing the original Broadway production.  “A tale as old as time, but as exhilarating as ever,” wrote the London Evening Standard. “Everything you could hope for: lovely music, dazzling costumes and standout choreography,” raved the Chicago Tribune of the current North American tour.

The structure and tone of the story and score made Disney history. It was just the second time that a Disney film had been structured as a stage musical where the songs are integral to plot and characterization. This Menken/Ashman innovation is credited with the 1990’s Disney animation renaissance that went on to create such film classics as Aladdin, The Lion King and Hunchback of Notre Dame and helped re-introduce the book musical form to popular culture.

Beauty and the Beast, directed & choreographed by Matt West, features Alan Menken’s Academy Award®-winning score, songs by Alan Menken and the late Howard Ashman (including the Academy Award®-winning title song and the show-stopping “Be Our Guest”), plus songs written especially for the stage by Alan Menken and Tim Rice (including “If I Can’t Love Her” and “A Change In Me”).   The production features a book by Linda Woolverton, author of the original screenplay.  Sets are by Stanley A. Meyer, costumes by Ann Hould-Ward (Tony Award® winner for Beauty and the Beast) and lighting by Natasha Katz.

Longtime Menken collaborators Michael Kosarin and Danny Troob are music supervisor/arranger and orchestrator, respectively. New dance music arrangements are by David Chase.  David Andrews Rogers is music director.

Completing the design team, John Shivers is sound designer, Darrel Maloney is projection & video designer, and David H. Lawrence is hair & make-up designer. Jim Steinmeyer is the illusion designer, as he was on the original 1994 production. Jason Trubitt is the production supervisor and Myriah Bash is the general manager.

Previous Disney-produced North American Tours of Beauty and the Beast played for almost eight years, for a combined total of 2,893 performances.

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